Methods and apparatus for multi-carrier communications with variable channel bandwidth

摘要

Methods and apparatus for multi-carrier communication with variable channel bandwidth are disclosed, where the time frame structure and the OFDM symbol structure are invariant and the frequency-domain signal structure is flexible. In one embodiment, a mobile station, upon entering a geographic area, uses a core-band to initiate communication and obtain essential information and subsequently switches to full operating bandwidth of the area for the remainder of the communication. If the mobile station operates in a wide range of bandwidths, the mobile station divides the full range into sub-ranges and adjusts its sampling frequency and its FFT size in each sub-range.

主权项

1. A cellular base station, comprising:
circuitry configured to transmit a broadcast channel in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) core-band, wherein the core-band is substantially centered at an operating center frequency and the core-band includes a first plurality of subcarrier groups, wherein each subcarrier group includes a plurality of subcarriers, the core-band defined as a frequency segment with a bandwidth that is not greater than a smallest operating channel bandwidth among a plurality of operating channel bandwidths, the core-band having a same value for the plurality of operating channel bandwidths, wherein the circuitry is further configured to maintain a fixed spacing between adjacent subcarriers and to adjust a number of usable subcarriers to realize a variable band, wherein the number of usable subcarriers is determined based on the plurality of operating channel bandwidths; and circuitry configured to transmit control and data channels using the variable band including a second plurality of subcarrier groups, wherein the variable band includes at least the core-band.